Last year I happened upon a link to Blog Her and emailed a friend to carpool. The conference was in Chicago and within driving distance from Minneapolis. Cheap in comparison to some high-tech conferences I’ve attended, I wasn’t on Twitter and my blog embodied the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” more than appealing to a niche market or audience. Barely read even by my own mother, I knew I wanted to become a better blogger. Above all, I wanted to turn the hobby into a job.

Staying with friends and family, we took the train into the city. Not prepared for the crowd and enormous networking opportunity, I thankfully patted my box of 500 business cards and roamed into and out of sessions, more than not finding a square foot of open floor. People were coming and going to all sorts of events, in cocktail dresses, carrying bags of goodies and looking like they went to kindergarten together. Was this a secret society? Did the invites get lost in the mail? Next year I was going to be prepared.

I joined Twitter, learned WordPress, rallied the troops on Facebook. Made a reservation at the hotel and attempted to engage in part of the online dialogue before this year’s gathering in New York City. Forced off site by new conference regulations, people were coming and going “somewhere” with out each other en masse. Don’t get me wrong; I connected with some amazing people and met others normally shielded by gate keepers. But, still, I wasn’t paying close enough attention. Whining and dining was happening, but not for the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

One year wiser, here’s my diatribe.

From experience, the session format at Blog Her continues to be all open format. A moderator introduces a panel of experts and then the audience is expected to engage in dialogue. A dialogue that changes as the microphone is passed around the room.  Maybe Franklin Covey brainwashed me beyond return, but I like a little education at my conference. Examples. Handouts. Toss in a Q&A at the very end. Speak to us, engage us, but don’t depend on us to fill the allotted time.

Honestly, I’m not even sure if it’s the best use of your time attending the sessions. If you consider yourself an intermediate blogger, you may benefit more from the pre-conference Business Day and saving yourself for Blog World in October. I’ll still say hi to Ronald McDonald, as long as the apple dippers are free.

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